Where is Lieutenant Benson?
by Kirbysbabe
Summary: Sarge and the squad stumble upon a court marshal.


_Fan-Fiction based on TV Show Combat! Copyright Selmur Production, Inc, ABC, Image Productions etc._

_Disclaimer: Combat! and its characters do not belong to me, t__his WWII story is a piece of fan-fiction__ and I am not being compensated in any tangible way for this story._

_Indicates a foreign language_

WHERE'S LIEUTENANT BENSON?

The men had been running and gunning for what felt like hours. The Germans and Saunders' squad had accidentally stumbled upon each other. The squad could barely hear the gunfire; the continual pounding of their heart beats were all they could hear anymore. They thought that their lungs were going to burst if they didn't stop.

"Sarge, I can't run anymore," cried Littlejohn between large gulps of air.

Saunders knew they were tired. In fact he could hardly put one foot in front of the other but he wanted to keep a good distance between them and the Germans. "We're almost back to our lines, about four or five more miles and we'll be safe. I'm not sure we've lost them. Let's just keep movin' a little more. Caje take the point, Kirby the rear."

The best the men could do was nod in agreement. Caje had been on point for about fifteen minutes when he noticed a cave. He trotted back to Saunders. "Sarge there's a cave up ahead do you think we could stop there for awhile?"

Saunders pulled out his map and began studying it. "The cave isn't shown anywhere on the map, I guess we could chance it for awhile. Kirby go back a ways and take a look around, we'll meet you at the cave."

The rest of the men headed for the cave as they entered they heard a distinctive click. "Sergeant, please put your gun down and have your men put their guns down as well."

"Who are you and what do you want?"

The man lit a lantern. Sarge saw a corporal and three other privates holding an M-1's. Over in the corner tied up was another private.

"Well sergeant, you and your men have just walked into our own little court martial. Private Morton over there was seen running from a firefight and you and your men are going to help us."

Please, sergeant I wasn't running away. Our lieutenant was hit and I was looking for help. When I couldn't find anyone; I went back to find Lieutenant Benson."

The corporal had no pity for the private as he sat on the ground shaking. "After the firefight I went over there," said the corporal. "The lieutenant was nowhere to be found."

"I don't know what happened but he was lying there when I left to go and get help. When I got back there he was gone."

"My name is Sergeant Saunders. Corporal, what you are doing is against regulations and you're gonna stop this at once."

"My name is Downs. Let's face it Sarge, since I've got all the cards and you've got the losin' hand, I guess we're gonna do it my way."

Kirby had circled around to make sure no one was following them. As he got closer to the cave he could hear some very loud talking. Some of the voices were unfamiliar. He slowly crept up to the cave to make sure no one would hear him. Kirby listened intently to what the Sarge and some corporal were saying.

"I told you Corporal Downs we are not going to help you."

"If you don't help us, I guess I'll just have to persuade you. I'll give you twenty minutes to decide. If it's still no, I gonna have to shoot one of your men in the leg."

The corporal walked away from the squad. Caje whispered to Sarge, "What are we gonna do, Sarge?"

"We've got twenty minutes maybe we can jump them or Kirby maybe heard us and he's trying to figure out how to help us."

Kirby worried what was going on in there but didn't want to go in the cave with the BAR blazing away. Maybe if he looked around there might be a back entrance to the cave. Kirby quietly moved away. He prayed there would be an opening. Kirby finally had worked his way to the back side of the cave. There were wild blackberry bushes everywhere. Kirby swore under his breath each time the thorns pricked and scratched him. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around his right arm so he could hold back the bushes while he looked for an entrance. After a few minutes he found a small opening. He took out his bayonet and started cutting down the bushes.

Kirby crawled through the opening and listened for voices. He walked silently towards a voice he couldn't recognize. Kirby prayed that the men would be so absorbed in what was going on around them that they wouldn't hear him. As he walked down the tunnel, Kirby could see a dim light up ahead. He crept slowly like a turtle. The men had their backs to Kirby. He pulled the BAR off his back and fired off a couple of rounds above the soldier's heads. "Drop your guns and put your hands up."

The squad picked up their firearms and aimed them at the other soldiers. It was a very strange feeling. These men were Americans. "Littlejohn, you and Billy tie them all up and sit them over against the wall," said Saunders.

Sarge nodded at Kirby. "It took you long enough; I kept stallin'. I was hopin' you'd show up soon. I told the corporal that none of us would help him with his little court martial."

Kirby winced at the words, court martial. "Sorry Sarge, I couldn't find an opening and when I did the blackberry bushes kept attackin' me."

Sarge looked at all the scratches on Kirby's hands and face. "It looks like the bushes won. By the way Kirby, did you see anyone?"

"Sarge I didn't see a soul out there. What's goin' on? I couldn't hear everythin'."

Saunders took Kirby to the side and began to explain the situation.

Caje's eyes showed all the fury he had for the corporal. He walked menacingly towards him.

The corporal looked scared as Caje stood next to him but he decided to show some bravado. "So, I suppose you want to take a swing at me?"

Caje just smiled. "I don't want to punch you. If the Sarge wasn't here I would do exactly what you said. I would shoot you but not necessarily in the leg."

All Downs could do was swallow hard.

Caje walked over to where Kirby and Saunders were standing. "Sarge what if Morton is telling the truth; their lieutenant could be out there somewhere."

"I was thinkin' about that too, Caje. Alright, we'll go take a look and see if we can find him. Untie Morton we'll take him with us. Caje you're on me."

As the men gathered their belongings the Sarge turned around to address the men. "Kirby's in charge. If we're not back in half an hour you start back and explain everything to Lieutenant Hanley. "

"Sarge, I rather not…."

Saunders cut him off. "Kirby just do as I say."

"Okay Sarge."

Downs looked up at Saunders. "You know he's gonna take you on a wild goose chase; Lieutenant Benson was either captured or he's out there somewhere dead."

Saunders ignored the remark as they set out to try and find the lieutenant.

"We are gonna start from the beginning. Where was the firefight?"

Downs pointed towards a clearing near the cave. "It was right about here near those logs. Lieutenant Benson and I were gonna flank the Krauts to the right. I thought they didn't see us but I guess they did. They started firing at us and the lieutenant and I fired back. The lieutenant went down; he got hit in the head. He was out cold. I tried to help the lieutenant but I figured he needed more help than I could provide so I left him to go get more help."

"I started back but I guess I got confused and I didn't see anyone. I must have gone the wrong way. So I went back to the lieutenant but he wasn't there either. The whole time there was firing goin' on. Corporal Downs was on the left flank with Private Sims. Sims and Downs threw a couple of grenades and everything got quiet. That must have been when they saw me running back to help the lieutenant."

Saunders could see that Morton was on the edge of crying; after all he was just a kid. "Let's start looking around."

The men headed towards the right flank. They saw the paper wrapping from the bandage. Caje started looking around to see if he could find some footprints. "Sarge look, there's a number of footprints all around this tree and then they are leading away from here."

Saunders looked down at the prints and also noticed some blood droplets. "I think he must have come to and someone was helping him or he was captured. Let's keep goin'; we've got to be very careful in case it was the Krauts that found him."

Kirby was sitting on a rock ledge with his BAR pointed at the group of men. "Billy, I want you to watch the entrance, make sure no one gets the jump on us."

"Okay Kirby."

Littlejohn was sitting next to Kirby. "Do you think Morton was tellin' the truth?"

"I don't know Littlejohn, the kid looked really scared. Hell, I know how he feels, that's for sure. I never want to have that experience again."

Downs smiled maliciously at Kirby. "So you were brought up on charges, so how did you get out of it?"

Before Kirby could smack the grin from his face, Littlejohn jumped up and yanked Downs up by his shirt collar. The man's feet were dangling a few inches off the ground. "Listen here, you little piss ant you don't know what you're talkin' about. Kirby was innocent; he was cleared of all charges by a court, a real court."

Kirby quietly walked over and placed his hand on Littlejohn's arm. "Littlejohn, let him go, he's not worth it." This wasn't the first time he had come to Kirby's defense and Kirby wouldn't forget it either.

Littlejohn dropped him to the ground and sat down. Sims and the other two privates just sat in awe as the big man released his hold on the corporal. The three privates could see that these soldiers had been in this war a long time and that they were as close as brothers. They were nothing like Corporal Downs who always bragged about his war time exploits. These men had seen war and they didn't need to brag about it.

The men followed the footprints until they heard the sound of rushing water. Lying near the bank was the lieutenant. Standing next to him was a boy of about twelve and a young girl in her teens.

Private Morton knelt down next to his lieutenant. "Lieutenant Benson, it's me Private Morton. Can you hear me sir?"

The man's eye lids opened slightly. He tried to reach out to touch Morton but he faded back into oblivion.

"Caje ask them who they are and what happened."

_"Who are you and where did you find the lieutenant?"_

_"I am Marie this is my cousin Henri. We found him by a tree about a half kilometer from here. We do not speak English so we did not understand what he was saying. We looked for more soldiers but we did not find any. We knew someone must have helped him because he had a bandage around his head. We decided to take him back to my home. We just helped him along until he got here and collapsed."_

Caje explained to Saunders what the girl had said.

"Well Morton, this proves you were telling the truth. We need to get the lieutenant back; we need to make a stretcher."

Morton smiled for the first time since this whole thing had started. "Caje will you tell them thank you for taking such good care of him."

"I can do that for you but you can too. Just say merci."

Morton smiled again and said the word. The boy and the girl smiled back at him.

"Caje, ask them if they need any help."

_"My sergeant would like to know if you need help?"_

_"We are fine we live about kilometer from here. We were going to pick some blackberries and bring them home when all this started. We never did not find any."_

_"Do you still want some?"_

_"Oh yes, do you know where there are some, my mother makes the best blackberry tarts you have ever tasted."_

Caje smiled._ "I know someone who can show you where there are many."_

Caje and Morton placed the lieutenant on the make-shift stretcher and began carrying him back to the cave.

Billy heard a noise. "Kirby someone's coming."

Kirby ran to the entrance and aimed his BAR until he saw the Sarge. He then saw Caje and Morton carrying someone and behind them were two kids.

Kirby turned around and stared at Downs. "I think it'll be you in front of a court martial. They're bringing in the lieutenant."

A defeated look came over Downs' face. For the first time he knew he was in a lot of trouble.

The men walked into the cave. Sarge nodded in the direction of the soldiers. "Untie them all Littlejohn. We'll be leaving in a few minutes."

He walked over and stood in front of the corporal. "Downs I don't know how much trouble you are in, I'll leave that to your captain. You never took the time to find out if Morton was telling the truth. You should have given him the benefit of the doubt. To be a leader to your men, you must show the men that you trust them and you have faith in them. You failed at both."

Sarge walked away from the corporal and hoped he had listened to what he said. Saunders turned to Kirby. "Kirby I want you to meet Henri and Marie. Caje told them that you knew where the best blackberries were and that you would be glad to show them."

Kirby grinned at the Sarge. "Yea, thanks Sarge, I'll be happy to show them as long as I don't have to touch them. Caje tell them to come with me and I will show them enough blackberries to fill a truck."

As Kirby, Marie and Henri left the cave to find the berries, Sarge and the men gathered their belongings for the long walk home.

THE END


End file.
